Though 41 was "not all that special," 41 years and 2 days wasn't all that bad.
PopPop and GiGi showed up about 20 minutes after Ben's nap and took us to lunch. That was followed by indulgent birthday gifts including; "crap cakes," Cracklin' OatBran, cupcakes with sport rings on top (think those might have been intended for someone who's birthday it was not--either way, they have all be confiscated!), a coconut cake, and gift cards to some of my favorite places. After picking the big boys up from school, PopPop "big boy" sat and GiGi took me grocery shopping. This was followed by ordering in pizza from Papa John's (where else?). All-in-all, the "un-birthday" was much better than the real one.
41 years and 3 days ... sucked ... literally. The garage and basement leaked, soaking Charity's grandfathers homemade desk and bookcase in the garage as well as several yet unpacked boxes and a rolled up rug (like 12X8). So I spent a significant amount of time--at least far more than I had wanted to--trying to suck up water, quickly unpack disintegrating boxes and raising wet furniture. On a positive note, apparently the previous renters left a dehumidifier in the basement. But as luck would have it, I did not notice that it was devoid of a basin plug--so all collected water immediately drained back onto the floor! 41 years and 3 days made 41.0 look like a dream day!
41 years and 4 days has been a little bit of a roller-coaster however. For starters, it's Friday. But, no rain, sunny and about 69 degrees all day. Having remembered past frustrations with getting the house clean then bring home 2 more kids, I opted to do laundry instead of clean floors. Good deal, cause I don't like doing floors. Don't like bathrooms either, but with Ben asleep and Charity at work I was able to use REAL cleaners on I hit the bathrooms hard. They fought back, and the "master" tub won. I bleach sprayed and Ajax-ed the think and it still looks like ... well at least it smells clean! While going beyond the 'call of duty' and putting away some of the kids clothes, I heard a thud and Ben start to cry. This is not an unusual occurrence and it look like he had just trip over his own feet, again, so I was in no rush to "baby" him. Then I noticed his unusually red mouth. After having him take several drinks of water I asked him to stick out his tongue for me--which he did without my showing him what I wanted. I had never asked him to do this before and had never seen him do it, so I was shocked when he did it immediately. That shock was quickly surpassed by the shock of seeing a good 1/2 inch puncture hole in his tongue. However, by this time there was no crying so I just went on with the day without fussing over what is really a pretty gnarly self inflicted wound and I have absolutely no idea how he did it! After a good little nap, Ben and I hit the Christian bookstore at the mall and picked up the new Max Lucado book Out Live Your Life and the new Jimmy Needham CD, thanks to a gift card from my little sister that arrived via P&G on 41.2. Lucado has been discussing his book on KLOVE radio during September and they have had his chapters up each day on the website. I was excited about getting to read it for free, but never really got around to doing each day. When I finally did, I realized they don't leave them up forever and got chapter one but couldn't get 2-4. I was hooked and was excited that thanks to my baby sis, I could still get it for "free"--kind of. Jimmy Needham is one of my new favorites. He is the Christian alternative to Jason Mraz, same voice and style, different lyrics. 41.4 is about a 7 out of 10.
Here's hoping 41....gets better with age.
